Artwork copyright Scott Mansfield. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Scott Mansfield. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Scott Mansfield. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Stilt Series VI, 1997

Scott Mansfield
(American, born 1967)

Location: Conway School, Mount Vernon

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Stilt Series VI is part of artist Scott Mansfield's series of found object sculptures that play with the visual motif of stilts. His grandfather gave him and his brother a pair of stilts for Christmas as a boy. He notes, "With some practice I was able to experience the world from a vantage point unattainable to me by any other means but through time. My growing body would someday obtain the height that these stilts afforded me in an instant. As an adult artist, I have abstracted beyond this memory and now use representation of the stilt to signify other locations of perspectival shift."

Mansfield created this piece from books to discuss how reading can change our perspective. He chose to "sacrifice" real books for this sculpture as a comment on "the belief many silently share that books are swiftly becoming obsolete technology."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Conway Consolidated School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Seattle-based artist and teacher Scott Mansfield creates sculptures using found objects and materials.

Mansfield received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Central Washington University in Ellensburg. He received a second Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa and became a certified teacher. He has taught art for Seattle Public Schools and the Art Institute in Seattle, among other institutions.